Sisters head shoe drive to benefit Afghan children

photo submitted Lt. Col. Dallas Plumley hands out shoes to children at the Ashiana Orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan.

With help from his two daughters, Lt. Col. Dallas Plumley, of Fort Knox, put shoes on 227 children's feet in Afghanistan.

Daughters Kelly, 12, and Courtney, 9, enlisted the help of Girl Scout Troop 464 on the post and students at Kingsolver Elementary, respectively, to collect shoes for the children in Afghanistan, where their father is still deployed.

The shoe drive started as Kelly's Girl Scout troop's project.

"We were just thinking of ideas to help people," Kelly said.

The troop was learning about girls in other countries. As her father had been sending her information and photographs from Afghanistan, Kelly chose to tell her troop about the girls there.

"My daddy sent us pictures of kids without shoes, and we thought it would be really nice to do this," Kelly said.

The troop decided to send their outgrown shoes to children like those in the photographs through Dallas Plumley, who normally supervises high school ROTC programs in the region but was sent overseas because of previous experience in ordnance. They started collecting the shoes in late February.

Shortly after the troop's collection began, Courtney's third-grade class at Kingsolver Elementary was discussing what it means to be a good citizen. Courtney told her class about her sister's troop's shoe drive.

"That's when it really ballooned," said Lee Ann Plumley, Kelly and Courtney's mother.

Courtney's class posted flyers throughout the school to promote the drive and collected new and used shoes from their schoolmates.

Marilyn Vessels, a secretary at Kingsolver Elementary, said the students were excited to help the children in Afghanistan.

"They're very much aware, here on post, of what's happening in Afghanistan," Vessels said.

"The mission of the project was to teach the children about sharing and especially that much is expected of those who have much," Dallas Plumley wrote in an e-mail.

Over time, Lee Ann, Kelly and Courtney Plumley piled 227 pair of shoes in their garage for packing. They shipped five moving boxes of shoes to Kabul. Girl Scout Troop 464 and staff at Kingsolver Elementary donated the $130 postage cost.

The last package was mailed April 10. Dallas Plumley received the final package earlier this month, about four weeks after it was mailed.

He distributed the shoes to children at the Ashiana Orphanage, which houses about 2,500 students in six different locations throughout Kabul.

"It's amazing what kids can do with a little hint of an idea," Lee Ann Plumley said.

- Sarah J. Baker can be reached at 769-1200, Ext. 234, or e-mail her at sjbaker@mail.the-ne.com.